Beanpot Begins This Evening

M.C. Hammer once sang, "Let's Get It Started." After months of waiting, the annual Beanpot Tournament is finally here.

There's Opening Day at Fenway Park and the Boston Marathon, and then there's the Beanpot. The city of Boston almost entirely shuts down for these three major sporting events.

The Beanpot is the annual college hockey tournament featuring the four major local teams: Harvard, Boston University(B.U.), Boston College and Northeastern. It is traditionally held the first two Mondays of February, with Harvard having won 10 of the first 43 tournaments.

"I have played hockey in Massachusetts my whole life, and I always watched the Beanpot," Harvard '99 goalie Peter Zakowich said. "That's one of the great reasons to go to a Boston-area school. I think it's the best college tournament around."

Tonight, for the first time ever in the new FleetCenter, Boston's bragging rights contest will begin at 6 p.m. with a face-off between Harvard and Northeastern. B.C. and B.U. will square off in the other first-round match, beginning at 9.

Harvard and Northeastern already met at Northeastern's rink during Thanksgiving break. Looking as if they had too many servings of turkey and stuffing, the Huskies were less than impressive in a 4-1 loss to the Crimson.

"Every time we play, it is like a visit to the dentist's office," Northeastern coach Ben Smith '68 said.

In hockey time, however, November is ancient history, and tonight's contest will be a whole new game. Coming off an overtime win against the University of New Hampshire (UNH) on Thursday, Northeastern looks sharp going into the Beanpot.

The Husky attack is led by Hobey Baker candidate Dan McGillis and senior forward Jordan Shields. Most underrated has been the Northeastern penalty-killing unit. It ranks second in Hockey East, having killed off 82.5 percent of its opponents' power plays, second only to the University of Maine.

The main problems thus far in the season for Northeastern, however, have stemmed from the team's inability to score. The Huskies rank at the bottom of Hockey East in total goals scored with 61 (compared with B.U.'s total of 99).

Nevertheless, after the UNH victory, Smith is hoping to make Harvard's first Beanpot game as pleasant as a root canal.

Momentum will also be on the side of Harvard. After coming out of two weeks of exams, the Crimson (10-9-1, 9-5-1 ECAC) exploded this past weekend with an impressive 4-3 come-back victory over RPI on Friday and a 6-0 whipping of Union on Saturday.

"We haven't played nearly as consistent as I think we can," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "But we look like a different team and our best hockey is ahead of us. It should be a real exciting game."

The Crimson boasts its strengths in penalty killing (83.3 percent) and in the goaltending of Tripp Tracy '96. The netminder was the star of the 1993 Beanpot when Harvard defeated B.U. in the finals, the Crimson's last Beanpot championship.

Plaguing the Crimson, however, is its nagging injuries. Despite the two-week lay-off, Mike Bent '99 is still out with a sprained ankle, and Kirk Nielsen '96 and Tommy Holmes '96 are both questionable. Nielsen suffered a separated shoulder in practice last week, while Holmes injured his leg after colliding with a goalpost against RPI on Friday night.

In addition, Peter McLaughlin '96 was removed early in the second period against Union, leaving Harvard with only a five-man defensive rotation for most of the game.

On the positive side, other players have stepped up their play in the absence of the walking wounded. Rob Millar '99 tallied four goals in two games this past weekend, while the second line of Jason Karmanos '96, Henry Higdon '98 and Craig Adams '99 were responsible for three of the four goals against RPI, including the game-winner with only 1:26 left in the contest.

In the end, the predictions and statistics are useless. The Beanpot possesses a unique emotional template for the players and fans, which in turn creates one of the most thrilling tournaments in hockey. This excitement has even trickled into the national sports arena, as it is being aired on ESPN2 and Channel 68 locally.

It is such a unique situation where you have four teams come together all in front of their home fans," Harvard captain Brad Konik '96 said. "Coming from Minnesota, I didn't realize how much excitement really goes along with the Beanpot."

Well, the time has finally come and no one knows what to expect, but odds are it will definitely be exciting. So play it Hammer, and let's get it started.CrimsonE. Houston WuForward TOMMY HOLMES sheilds the puck with his body.

"We haven't played nearly as consistent as I think we can," Harvard coach Ronn Tomassoni said. "But we look like a different team and our best hockey is ahead of us. It should be a real exciting game."

The Crimson boasts its strengths in penalty killing (83.3 percent) and in the goaltending of Tripp Tracy '96. The netminder was the star of the 1993 Beanpot when Harvard defeated B.U. in the finals, the Crimson's last Beanpot championship.

Plaguing the Crimson, however, is its nagging injuries. Despite the two-week lay-off, Mike Bent '99 is still out with a sprained ankle, and Kirk Nielsen '96 and Tommy Holmes '96 are both questionable. Nielsen suffered a separated shoulder in practice last week, while Holmes injured his leg after colliding with a goalpost against RPI on Friday night.

In addition, Peter McLaughlin '96 was removed early in the second period against Union, leaving Harvard with only a five-man defensive rotation for most of the game.

On the positive side, other players have stepped up their play in the absence of the walking wounded. Rob Millar '99 tallied four goals in two games this past weekend, while the second line of Jason Karmanos '96, Henry Higdon '98 and Craig Adams '99 were responsible for three of the four goals against RPI, including the game-winner with only 1:26 left in the contest.

In the end, the predictions and statistics are useless. The Beanpot possesses a unique emotional template for the players and fans, which in turn creates one of the most thrilling tournaments in hockey. This excitement has even trickled into the national sports arena, as it is being aired on ESPN2 and Channel 68 locally.

It is such a unique situation where you have four teams come together all in front of their home fans," Harvard captain Brad Konik '96 said. "Coming from Minnesota, I didn't realize how much excitement really goes along with the Beanpot."

Well, the time has finally come and no one knows what to expect, but odds are it will definitely be exciting. So play it Hammer, and let's get it started.CrimsonE. Houston WuForward TOMMY HOLMES sheilds the puck with his body.